Journalists should always strive to be objective and present fair and complete news and feature stories. 6 There are opinion and comment pieces in journalism, but there should always be a clear separation between the two.
Opinion pieces are usually published in a completely different section of a newspaper or a website, or in a specific slot in a broadcast programme. Opinion, comment and editorials are also usually labelled as such – it is clear to the reader when they are reading someone’s opinion and when they are reading news.
The editorial page from the South African news website GroundUp. The page is clearly labelled as “GroundView: Our editorials”, and the writers are identified as “GroundUp Editors”. This makes it clear these are the editors’ opinions, not news. Screenshot: GroundUp (CC BY).
News and feature stories, on the other hand, must always be written in an objective way, tell both sides of a story and be accurate. Therefore, journalists should not only collect the information they need to tell the story; they must verify (check, confirm) the information before they can use it. Journalists should always rely on a variety of sources and their own first-hand observations, when possible, to find information for their stories. This helps them ensure their stories are reliable. Sources must always be identified clearly, except in rare circumstances. This is one of the most important aspects of journalism – something that novice journalists often neglect. A news story is simply not credible or trustworthy without good sources quoted in the story.
Unlike people who work in public relations and who would like to present a company or event in the most positive way possible, a journalist attempts to provide a complete picture, even if it is not entirely positive, to always be fair and objective. This is where it becomes tricky when you are an independent journalist. Independent or entrepreneurial journalists often depend on sponsors. Some of your sponsors might insist on positive reporting about them. If you decide to run a news platform on TikTok, for example, you should think carefully about how you would explain your situation to your sponsors. If you want to be a TikTok journalist, your sponsors should know that your aim is to present accurate and objective news and not marketing.
It is also important to remember that journalists are not supposed to present their own opinions and views as part of their news stories. They should always do original reporting, dig deep, find all the information, present all sides, and cast their own views aside. That is why most stories cannot have just one source. One source only presents one side of a story.
Journalists should not confuse fact with opinion or rumour.
Sometimes, journalists get ideas for stories on social media, but social media are full of disinformation and rumours. Journalists should always check the facts first by speaking to various sources before they publish anything.
Journalists owe their primary allegiance to the public. That is what journalists do – they inform the public. It is a huge responsibility and should be taken seriously. The South African Press Code (2020) states: “The primary purpose of gathering and distributing news and opinion is to serve society by informing citizens and enabling them to make informed judgments on the issues of the time… As journalists we commit ourselves to the highest standards, to maintain credibility and keep the trust of the public.”
These basic principles of journalism remain the same, no matter the platform. In chapter 7, we talk about journalistic ethics in more detail. For now, as you learn how to compile news stories and find sources, keep in mind that journalists should always be committed to telling truthful stories in a non-biased and ethical way. That is what makes journalism different from all other forms of communication. Journalists are trusted because the audience know journalists work hard to present all sides of a story, and the full story, unlike influencers, public relations people, or propagandists. Of course, there are some journalists who have broken the rules (some examples are discussed in chapter 7) and, therefore, many people now do not trust journalists as much as they should. Every journalist should work hard to build and maintain the trust of the public.
Journalists should be as objective as possible. The executive editor of the American newspaper The Washington Post, Leonard Downie (from 1991 to 2008), took the concept so seriously that he refused to register to vote. But many journalists today accept that total objectivity is impossible. In 1996, the United States Society of Professional Journalists dropped the word “objectivity” from its code of ethics. Journalists are human beings after all. They care about their work, and they do have opinions. Claiming that they are completely objective suggests that they have no values. But journalists mostly agree that they must be aware of their personal opinions so they can make sure their opinions do not creep into their stories too much. The audience should not be able to tell from the story what the journalist’s opinion is.
In a postcolonial society like South Africa, some journalists feel strongly about playing a certain role in society. They are guided in their work by some personal values that they feel are important in their work.
In South Africa, many journalists feel they have a role to play in nation building, transformation, and development (Rodny-Gumede, 2018). This does not mean that they are no longer objective; it simply means that they accept their responsibility to society, i.e., journalists can also productively help build a new society. Journalists can help establish a sense of solidarity (unity) in society, which also helps them to maintain peace in a country – an important role for journalists in Africa (Ogenga, 2020).
Apart from objectivity, another important requirement of journalism is fairness. Journalists should always strive to be fair in their reporting by not telling one-sided stories. They should look for contrasting views and report on them without favouring one side over another. They do not just verify facts; they also look for differing opinions so that they can tell all sides of a story.
Fairness is not the same thing as balance. Balance suggests that each side should be given equal weight. Journalists who seek that kind of artificial balance in their stories actually may produce coverage that is fundamentally inaccurate. It is still important to get information from both sides, but journalists need to make informed decisions when writing. For example, most independent economists may agree on the consequences of a particular government policy, while a handful of economists have a different opinion. It would be misleading to give equal weight to the handful of economists who have a different opinion. In such stories, your research will show you which viewpoint should carry more weight.
Credibility is a journalist’s most important asset, and accuracy is the best way to protect it. To ensure accuracy, journalists must check, and double-check, all the information they collect for a news story. They must speak to a variety of sources. They must weigh the evidence and consider the inputs from various sources. They must evaluate the credibility of their sources, thus, make sure that their sources can be trusted. Journalists may sometimes make mistakes, but they should be rare. Mistakes, in this instance, have six causes:
Working from memory. That is why you need to keep clear notes or make recordings of interviews when speaking to sources.
Making your own assumptions. It is very dangerous to add your own perceptions or ideas to news stories. Remember, you are not the expert on the topic you are writing about. Your sources are the experts.
Dealing with untrustworthy sources. Always check the credibility of your sources by speaking to many sources and cross-checking information and facts.
Plagiarism. Using someone else’s story, pictures, or information without properly crediting them is stealing. Even if you use just one line or one paragraph from another story or another published piece of information, you must credit the author properly.
Making up facts. This is a cardinal sin in journalism and often leads to dismissal and the end of your career as a journalist because nobody will trust you.
Being biased. This happens when you listen to and report on only one side of the story. All stories have several sides. Make sure you find them and report all sides.
We cannot talk about credibility without mentioning numbers. Most journalists do not like mathematics, but they need it, and they need to know why. Journalists need numerical literacy (the ability to understand basic numbers) to tell the difference between a meaningless number and a significant one or they risk writing stories that are misleading and confusing, at best, and, at worst, flat out wrong. When this happens, they and their publication will lose credibility.
Some important facts about numerical literacy for journalists:
You should have mathematical intuition; you should know when numbers just do not make sense. You need to understand percentages and the meaning behind data. You need to understand what terms such bankruptcy and inflation mean. This will help you understand numbers and explain these to your readers.
Journalists need basic arithmetic (counting) and statistics skills so that they can check numbers. They should know how to calculate percentages, ratios, rates of change, and other relationships between numbers that tell far better stories than raw data can. They can and should translate numbers into terms that readers and viewers can easily understand.
Journalists who understand numbers are in demand in today’s highly technical world. They are the writers and editors who can assess and explain scientific, medical, technological and economic developments. They are the journalists who can also find stories in databases by crunching numbers themselves instead of waiting for someone with a vested interest to do it for them.
Once the numbers have been checked and rechecked, the journalist must decide how to use them in a story. The rule of thumb is: the fewer numbers, the better. Numbers should be rounded off for simplicity’s sake and put in context for clarity. Journalists who understand numbers will know when to use numbers and when to rather leave them out. Sometimes, too many numbers might just confuse the audience. It remains the task of the journalist to tell stories in ways that their audience will understand.
Journalists who do not understand numbers will not understand important numbers such as crime statistics and unemployment figures.
Without mathematics skills appropriate to their beat, journalists might struggle to tell accurate stories.
Journalists are the news organisation’s first line of defence against errors. Journalists who take excellent notes and consult them often, who use good and many sources, and who understand numbers are better able to ensure that their work is always accurate. But journalists and publications do sometimes make mistakes; they are only human. If journalists make mistakes, all credible news organisations will correct the errors, either in a short story or a broadcast piece, or in a special column that might appear on a weekly or monthly basis. If the press ombud (discussed in chapter 7) of South Africa rules that a publication needs to make a correction, the ruling usually also contains a directive that the error must be corrected on the same page (in the case of a newspaper or a website) where the incorrect story first appeared.
As you can see, journalists have a very responsible role in society. In the digital newsroom of the 21st century, there is a lot of pressure on journalists. Journalists need to meet strict deadlines and production schedules. Despite the pressure, journalists should never neglect the important requirements of true facts, objectivity, and fairness.
If you know how to find your stories, how to find your sources, and how to put together your stories in the best way, you will manage to cope with the pressure more easily.
Regardless of whether you work in print, online, broadcasting, or for yourself, fair, objective, accurate and credible news stories are always created in a similar way:
Find the story (by identifying news values).
Find sources, observe events.
Speak to your sources to gather information.
Evaluate and select information in a fair and objective way.
Identify the type of story you would like to compile.
Put your story together (for example, write a story, create a video, make an audio clip).
Let someone check your story and help with corrections.
Publish or broadcast.
Reference
This chapter is loosely based on a public domain textbook by the United States Department of State, The Handbook of Independent Journalism, written by Deborah Potter (2006), available at: https://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00011644/00001/pdf, Public Domain, and Writing for Strategic Communication Industries by Jasmine Robberts (n.d.), available at: https://ohiostate.pressbooks.pub/stratcommwriting/ [July 21, 2021], CC BY-NC 4.0. These sources provided general context and background and have been updated extensively, with fresh material and examples from academic, professional and student sources, as well as current practice.
